General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When did so many (not all) "christians" become hateful psychopaths? [View all]Tigress DEM
(7,887 posts)To me - the example of Christ's life and what He wanted His disciples to do is the best way I can see to live my life. So when I call myself a Christian, that is what I mean by it.
Religions are institutions that have been around a long time and have been "tainted" to some degree (in my observations) by the imperfect humans who have used and mis-used the power of those institutions. BUT having said that and even if you read some of my posts about how I disagree with the Catholic Church in particular, the Church has a HUGE number of people down on the front lines trying to make the love of God more present in the world.
Just as there are good soldiers who served in IRAQ in spite of insane orders from the top and corruption all around, there are good Christians, lots of them who believe in Democracy and fight for it every day. Regardless of the uniform one wears, a truly good soldier is one who stands up for the truth and puts his/her life on the line for a cause they believe in.
A truly good Christian believes in Peace and Justice and lives their life as best they can by that standard. Doesn't make them perfect and doesn't mean that everything they believe or do is liberal enough for DU. But if they are drawn to DU, then logical argument that points them toward being better examples of Christ is the best thing a non-believer can use to give them a "put up or shut up" challenge.
WE (honest Christians) BELIEVE in What Jesus did:
He fed the hungry.
We reach out and support others less fortunate whenever we are able.
He healed the sick.
We fight for health care reform and against unjust treatment of those who aren't able to fight for themselves against corporate medicine.
He threw the Moneychangers out of the Temple - busted a few Pharisee's chops too.
We are MAD as Christians can be at Corporate America and hypocrites of all stripes and are busy standing up to as many as we are aware of and able to get within shouting (or faxing) distance to make ourselves heard.
Most important of all, HE SHOWED COMPASSION AND WARMTH to those who needed it, even if they were the ones ridiculing Him as He was dying on the cross.
WE love our enemies and our allies who "just don't get us" sometimes and we try to persevere with compassion, warmth and a non-judge mental understanding. Though, at times it seems like too much to ask... We'd like someplace to just "be" without all the huge drama... but hey, it is what it is, right?
And honestly some days we blow it and send out a really peevish post that shows just how fallible a Christian can be. Forgiveness is a great thing and you don't have to be a Christian to offer it or receive it.
CULTS as a Christian would define it are about people NOT being able to freely act once they have made a decision to join and there is quite a bit of deception and imprisonment going on in certain cults.
I've KNOWN people who have been in a cult and it's SO beyond what I'd call the mainstream fundie area that it's something entirely incomprehensible to any one who hasn't been imprisoned, locked up in a mental ward or abused as a child.
My son went out with a girl who was routinely put into "Youth Night Lock In" at her church.
Now in a mainstream religious "Lock In" they are having games and learning about God and such, still a heavy marketing campaign and a lot of "just say No" going on most likely, but SOOOOO much different from a CULT lock in.
This girl and all the other kids were expected to fast and pray from late Friday night until Sunday morning - of course since the CULT leaders didn't feed them and had them locked in a room all that time and demanded obedience which was sanctioned by the parents there was a whole lot of child abuse going on there. She developed an eating disorder and eventually went to live with her Dad who wasn't a member of that "church" but she'll be affected by that all her life.
An online friend of mine has stories that would make your hair curl and even with a lot of therapy she still needs support when dealing with her family who are still "in" the JWs. I do not know if they are officially a cult (there is an actual list and criteria for determining if a religion is a cult that deprives people of choice and demands conformity). But another part of all of this is that parents can use religion abusively even if the religion itself isn't abusive.
So when you say you can't see a difference, I can agree with you that on the fringe the line is really blurry. A BIG difference would be that someone who is in a religion that isn't a cult can work out a way to be more Christ-like and less of a rethug wannabe without having to escape in the middle of the night and go through deprogramming and/or years of therapy.
Tig